Elevator bucket cleaner



Aug. 26, 1952 w 5. TYLER 2,608,290

ELEVATOR BUCKET CLEANER Filed April 1, 1950 7n ER IN VEN TOR.

A TTORNEY Patented Aug. 26, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT 1 OFFICE j v2,608,290 r f ELEVATOR BUCKET I William S. Tyler, Sulphur Springs, Tex.7 Application April 1, 1950, Serial No. 153,315

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to bucket elevators and more particularly, to abucket cleaning device for such elevators.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple devicewhich is useful in keeping elevator buckets clean under conditions inwhich the buckets are required to lift loose materials and especiallysuch materials as fertilizer, crushed grain and the like which may bedeliquescent in character and hence have a tendency to adhere to thewalls of the bucket. The described conditions are sometimes the cause offrequent shut-downs necessary for the manual cleaning of individualbuckets of the elevator, which not only entails cessation of plantoperation but requires the intervention of labor to clean the buckets byhand.

Another object of the invention is to provide an elevator bucket cleanerconsisting of a rotatable shaft adapted to be situated adjacent thedischarge or head of the elevator housing and in juxtaposition to theinverted buckets on the downgoing side thereof. By virtue of a pluralityof chain hammers, flails or equivalent means staggeredly attached to theshaft from end to end, the buckets will each be subjected to a series ofshocks or impacts as they pass within the orbit of the flails or hammerswhich latter revolve at a speed proportionately greater than the travelof the buckets, thus to insure that the entire area of the bucketexposed to the hammers will be encountered thereby to loosen adheringmaterial and release the same from the bucket.

Other objects will appear as the description proceeds, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional bucket elevator housingwith a portion broken away to reveal the relationship of the inventionwith the buckets of the elevator.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the elevator on aslightly larger scale and broken away to show a chain hammer of theinvention in collision with a bucket.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2,and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view per se of a modified form of hammer.

Continuing with a more detailed description of the drawing, referencenumeral I0 denotes generally the vertical housing of a conventionalbucket elevator, having at its base or boot a feed box I I and at itsupper end, a discharge or head l2. A boot shaft I3 is suitably arrangedon the housing In near the bottom thereof and a head shaft [4 issimilarly arranged in the head of the housing. Each shaft carries asprocket wheel (not shown) and over these sprockets operates a chain [5,to which is attached in the usual manner a plurality of relativelyspaced buckets l6. When the elevator is operated,jthe buckets 16 arefilled with material in the bottom of housing l0 and convey the same tothe top thereof where the material is released through the dischargechute [2 upon inversion of the buckets on the downgoing side of theelevator.

As previously stated, many finelydivided or loose materials such asmashed or crushed grain as feedstuifs; corn, flour and even fertilizersusually have a tendency to stick to the interior wall surfaces of thebuckets l6, due either to the moisture content of the materials orperhaps to the natural mucilaginous nature thereof. In any case,however, the adhering materials will soon build up within the bucketsand reduce their capacity to such an extent that the eificiency of theelevators is seriously affected.

To obviate the foregoing conditions, the invention provides a housing I!of any suitable design or form, which is secured to the wall of theelevator housing In next adjacent to the downgoing side of the elevator.A shaft l8, disposed transverse to the travel of the elevator chain l5,has its ends journaled in bearings I9 in opposite walls of the housingI! and is driven by means of an electric motor 20 supported on thehousing H or by other suitable propelling means. As shown, a belt 2|connects a pulley 22 on the motor shaft and a pulley 23, mounted on anend of shaft l8 'exteriorly of the housing l1.

Attached at one end to the shaft l8 and staggered spirally about thesame is a series of short lengths of chain 24.

When the shaft I8 is set in motion by energizing motor 20, the shortlengths of chain 24 will, by centrifugal force, be maintained in radialrelationship with their shaft and their free ends will move in acircular path through an opening 25 provided therefor in the wall of theelevator housing It]. As the elevator buckets l6 are moved downwardlythrough the paths of the chains 24, the bottoms of the buckets will besuccessively struck by the outer ends of the described, on a bucketelevator has revealed no damage to the buckets nor to the cleaningmechanism. The flails on chain hammers being highly flexible, they willnot hang up or break, which may not be true of rigid devices, nor dothey interfere in any manner with normal operation of the elevator.

The chain hammers 24 may be replaced by the modified form of chain orcentrifugal hammer shown in Figure 4,-whose elements, because of theirsimilarity to the chains 24, bear the same reference numeral.

Manifestly, the construction as shown andde scribed is capable of somemodification and such modification as may be construed-to fall withinthescope and meaning of the appended claims is also considered to be Withinthe spirit and in tent of the invention.

on said chain, a second housing mounted on said 4 vertical housingadjacent the path of thebuckets of said elevator in their, invertedpositions on the down-going side of said chain, a shaft rotatable insaid second housing, a plurality of flexible hammers attached to saidshaft in spiral arrangement and adapted to be brought centrifugally intooperative position by rotation of said shaft to collide with theinclined walls of each bucket progressively from the top to the bottomthereof as said buckets traverse the 0D- erative range of said flexiblehammers, and means for rotating the shaft in said second housing tooperate said chain.

WILLIAM S. TYLER.

REFERENCES CITED 3 The following references are of record in the file-ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,449,224 Greiman Mar. 20, 1923 gFOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 427 Great Britain of 1888 364,012

Italy Oct. 20, 1938

